The Secrets We Keep
by happyalvin
Summary: Georgia Lockwood had a secret, a deep dark secret that she so desperately wanted to keep hidden. Raised as a normal girl in Mystic Falls, Georgia was no normal girl she was born to kill the supernatural. Marked from birth with the mark of slayer, Georgia discovers that everything isn't so simple when she finds out that her cousin Tyler is one of the creatures she was born to kill.
1. Chapter 1

_The world seemed to be on fire for Georgia Lookwood as she danced like nothing else really mattered in a somewhat drunken haze with her friends in a dive bar in Kentucky. This had been one of many stops that Georgia had made when she returned to the states after spending almost a year travelling abroad. Not ready to give up her travels and attempt to live a mundane life yet Georgia had continued travel, this time across the country. After spending four long years at college Georgia wanted to let loose and have some fun for a while, although her aunt told people that Georgia was off trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life as you couldn't really say that Georgia was putting a tiny dent in her sizeable trust fund. As she was handed another shot of tequila, Georgia eagerly downed the shot in one go before continuing to dance and laugh as the night got further on into the early hours. Nothing was better in life than tequila and dancing which just so happened to be Georgia's favourite things and tonight she was planning on dancing until her feet gave way. Tonight was all about celebrating her youth and freedom, which is where the tequila came in. Nothing else really mattered to the twenty three year old other than having a good time and dwelling in hedonism. The only responsibility Georgia currently had right now was to herself and enjoying herself and trying to live as best as normal life as she could. Georgia was going to be reckless, make some mistakes along the way and do things that many people probably wouldn't approve of. But Georgia didn't care, she lived her life the way she wanted to and she was going to make any apologies for it. Tomorrow Georgia may regret the amount that she was planning on drinking tonight but for now, she would enjoy it. Georgia had learned a long time ago that living a life full of regrets and confining yourself to a stuffy life that made you happy was no longer a way to live. Georgia lived a life that she knew, come fifty years from now she would look back and not have any regrets._

_As Georgia continued to dance the night away, she felt a buzzing and at first she thought that it was just the buzz she was getting from all the alcohol. It took a few moments to realize that it was actually her phone that was vibrating inside her clutch. Fumbling around in her bag, Georgia pulled out the phone and read her caller id and saw that it was Carol Lockwood, her maternal aunt. No doubt dear Aunt Carol was calling to make sure that Georgia hadn't finally managed to succeed in bringing shame to the family as well as checking to see that Georgia hadn't squandered the inheritance left to her by her late father. Georgia appreciated the concern from her aunt but she was no longer the traumatised twelve year old child who had been sent to her after her father had died in a fire that claimed the life of three others. But nonetheless Georgia was going to have to entertain her aunt as she got a paranoid when Georgia didn't check in her often. _

_"Hello?"_

_"Georgia!"_

_"Hey Aunt Carol, now's not really a good time for me so can we do this later? Maybe tomorrow evening–" Georgia began as she could barely make out her aunt over the phone because of the loud music and the other patrons. Right now was simply not a good time for Georgia to be making small talk with her aunt about menial things. Not to mention a lecture would also be chucked in for good measure as Georgia's aunt liked to remind that she had to grow up sometime. Georgia thought that the conversation would have ended there and she could have gone back to her business but it didn't stop. Aunt Carol was hysterical for something, going on about something that had happened but Georgia couldn't understand any of it as the music from the bar was drowning out her aunt's cries._

_"G-Georgia!"_

_"Aunt Carol I can't hear a word you're saying! Hold on a minute whilst I go somewhere quieter…" Georgia wearily replied with a small frown as clearly something had happened to cause her aunt to majorly freak out to then have her aunt call her of all people. Back home Georgia was exactly known for her reliability or real dependability. But none the less Georgia awkwardly made her way out of the bar, so she could be able to talk on the phone without straining to try and hear the conversation. Hopefully she could call her aunt, call her down and be back to downing shots of tequila and carrying on her plans of dancing the night away in less than ten minutes. "Okay Aunt Carol I can talk now, so take a deep breath and try to tell me what happened…" _

_"T-There's been a fire, R-Richard is dead…" Carol chocked out and Georgia felt like she had been kicked in the gut as that was the last thing she had been expecting. No longer did Georgia feel the effects of alcohol, instead she felt stone cold sober and feel grief beginning to claw at her stomach. Georgia had been expecting her aunt to be complaining about some town party that had been a disaster, she hadn't been expecting to hear that her Uncle Richard was dead._

_"I'm on my way home."_

* * *

><p>Nine hours. That's how long it took for Georgia to get to Mystic Falls from Kentucky as pretty soon after she had got off the phone with her Aunt Carol, Georgia had packed up most of her things and jumped in her jeep and drove back to the town she had grown up in since she was 12. Before she left Georgia had to have several strong cups of coffee to focus her ever so slightly as the alcohol had impaired her cognitive abilities ever so slightly. Even then Georgia knew she probably shouldn't have been driving but she had no choice in the matter as her Uncle Richard was dead and she needed to go home because her family needed her. But Georgia was different then most people as her body was more durable than most people, she was more resilient because of who she was; or rather what she was born as. If anyone else had drunk the amount she had then would have probably been on the floor. By the time Georgia had arrived in Mystic Falls, all alcohol had metabolised in her system hours ago. As she pulled up to the Lockwood mansion Georgia switched off her car's engine and climbed up to the car and walked over to the vast family home that she had grown up in. Looking up at the family home Georgia couldn't help but sigh as she hadn't been expecting the next time she would come home was because one of her relatives had died. Especially when that relative had died in a fire, similar to how Georgia had lost her father eleven years ago.<p>

Taking a deep breath Georgia gathered all her courage and began walking up the white stone steps towards the front door of the house and once she had opened the door, Georgia took several slow and cautious steps inside. The house was seemingly unchanged from the last time Georgia had been home just under eighteen months ago, when she had come home for a brief period of time after graduating college. Georgia may not have always liked Mystic Falls but it had been her home ever since her Aunt Carol took her in. Carol Lockwood was Georgia's paternal aunt and she had taken her in after Georgia had become an orphan aged twelve because of her father's death. A year after Georgia came to live in Mystic Falls, her aunt and uncle had adopter her and she went from being Georgia Parry to Georgia Lockwood.

"Hello? Anyone home? It's me Georgie…" Georgia called out as she wasn't even sure what to even begin when it came to looking for her family. Although Georgia knew for sure that her aunt would definitely not be bed crippled with grief, Carol Lockwood was the strongest person that Georgia knew. Her aunt was around here somewhere, probably worrying about how the town was going to cope as her husband had been the Mayor of Mystic Falls before his death. Which Georgia was still pretty much in the dark about, from what Georgia had gotten from her aunt, the body of her uncle had been found in the old Gilbert office after a fire started their last night during the founders day celebrations. Georgia had so many questions but they were put to the side when she saw her aunt emerge from the home office of her uncle.

"Georgia…" Carol began in a weary tone of voice as she eyed up her niece and there was a moment where her attention was focused on Georgia's hair, which was currently lilac. However this lasted for a few moments.

"I am so sorry Aunt Carol." Georgia replied as she made her way over to her aunt in order to hug her and in the safety of her own home, away from prying eyes, Georgia could feel her aunt put aside the strong front she was putting on for everyone else and allow herself to wallow in her grief for a brief moment.

"Thank you for coming so quickly Georgia, the town will be coming to pay their respects later on in the day and I just needed somebody here that I could rely on…"

"Of course Aunt Carol, I am happy to help with any arrangement or anything in general, all you need all you have to do is say the word and I will do it. I will be here for as long as you and Tyler need me and don't worry about the hair, I'm going to fix it..." Georgia told her aunt in a reassuring manner as her aunt had been there for her, in her darkest times and now Georgia wanted to repay her aunt for everything that she had done for her. "It's so terrible about what happened to Uncle Richard but I still don't understand about the fire or why he was in the Gilbert building. Given that it was founders day I would have figured that Uncle Richard would have been schmoozing everyone. Do we know why he was in that building?"

"About that Georgia, Richard wasn't alone in the Gilbert building when he died… There were also vampires in the building." Carol wearily said and Georgia's ears couldn't help but perk up when her aunt had mentioned vampires. She was well aware that Mystic Falls had a history with vampires. Mystic Falls was the place that Georgia had learnt that the reversed three birthmark of her shoulder had meant protector and it linked to her destiny; in which she was destined to keep humans safe from the supernatural creatures that roamed the earth. Georgia had learnt the truth about herself when she was eighteen years old and a freshman in college and since then she had learned the truth about vampires in Mystic Falls. Georgia knew that the founders council's real duty was to protect the town from vampire threats. But as far as Georgia knew, there hadn't been any vampires in Mystic Falls since the 1950's but apparently not. This was news to Georgia as she thought she had been in the loop about the vampire deal in Mystic Falls as her family had made her a member of the council as she bore the Lockwood family name.

"Vampires? There are vampires in Mystic Falls?" Georgia questioned and she watched as her aunt slowly nodded her head. "How long Aunt Carol?"

"We think September, things weren't going to plan and so Richard decided to do something and the vampires were supposed to be rounded up yesterday. I don't know the finer details but they were taken to the Gilbert building and Richard ended up there. He was killed before the fire started apparently, it was terrible Georgia as Tyler got into an accident with Caroline and Matt that night, he's fine though. Thank god, I don't know what I would have done if I lost them both…" Carol revealed and Georgia couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"It'll be okay Aunt Carol, I'm home now and we'll figure this out." Georgia said in a reassuring manner as she was adamant about getting answers as she wanted to know how her uncle ended up being rounded up with vampires and ended up dying as a result of that. Georgia also wanted to know why this situation with the vampires was allowed to go on for so long, it was February 26th. According to her aunt, vampires had been here from at least five months. This situation was out of control. If Georgia had known about all of this she would have come home earlier. She could have done something to stop this. She may have been the Mayor's niece but she was also a part sisterhood of supernatural hunters known as slayers. A sisterhood that went back centuries with the aim of protecting innocent humans from the darkness of the supernatural. Created by a vengeful witch in the late 14th century after a girl in her village had been killed trying to protect her family from the vampires. The witch had decided to bestow the skills to kill vampires to countless girls so they could protect those who were defenceless from the evils of the supernatural. Georgia was one of many slayers, however many there were she didn't know but she was one of many born with a birth mark that resembled a reversed three with an X through it. The mark of the slayer. Each had been blessed with enhanced abilities far more stronger than humans in order to aid then in their quest. It was why Georgia had survived a fire that should have killed her, like it had killed her father.

"Peaches?"

At the sound of the family nickname that had been bestowed on her - because of her apparent sweetness not to mention that Georgia was the peach state where she just so happened to be born – Georgia looked up and saw her cousin Tyler making his way down the stairs. The last time Georgia had seen Tyler, she had promised him that they would take a trip together and she would show him what life was like beyond Mystic Falls. Things had drastically changed, it reminded Georgia of the first time she had seen Tyler after her father had died. Tyler didn't know about vampires, Aunt Carol didn't even need to say anything or even look at Georgia for her to know that Tyler had to remain in the dark about the vampire situation and the true events that surrounded his father's death. The only thing Tyler would ever know was that his father died in a fire.

"Hey Tyler…" Georgia greeted with a weary smile and the two of them just stood them, neither one of them made a move to embrace each other, which was the norm with them.

"Don't just stand there Tyler! Go get your cousins bags out of her car and take them up to her room." Carol instructed and Georgia watched as her cousin wordlessly did what he was told which was pretty out of character for him. Normally Tyler would have kicked up a fuss but the family were after all going through a hard time at the moment. Whilst Tyler did that, Georgia attended to her aunt and helped hr prepare for the flurry of guests who were no doubt going to arrive soon in order to pay their respects. It was going to be a circus and Georgia knew she was going to have to be on her A game, playing the dutiful yet mournful niece turned adopted daughter. Georgia didn't really understand why they were having to do this, they had just lost someone and yet there were having to go out of their way to entertain people. It was complete madness but they couldn't ignore any of this. Richard Lockwood came from the founding families and he was the mayor of Mystic Falls. People had to come and pay their respects.

Maybe Georgia would get some answers. If not she would sure as hell find them herself.


	2. Chapter 2

_Georgia awkwardly shuffled her feet as she stood outside the vast mansion that she had been told that was going to be her new home. Today was moving day for Georgia as she had finally been discharged from the hospital and was now moving into the home of her only remaining family after the fire. Never before had the Lockwood mansion seemed so big to the twelve year old Georgia, she had been there countless times visiting her aunt, uncle and cousin for family visits but now she was going to live here. Georgia couldn't believe that this was all happening, a part of her was still convinced that this was all a terrible nightmare and that soon enough she would wake up and this nightmare would be over. That everything would be back to normal and none of this would have happened. Her dad would still be alive and she wouldn't be all alone. Georgia couldn't help glance down at her free hand, still heavy wrapped up in bandages because of the injury that she sustained. If Georgia closed her eyes, she could still feel the immense heat, the smoke filled air that did nothing to disguise the smell of her own burning flesh. The whole experience had been painful and terrifying from what Georgia could remember but no matter how much she tried to forget it never went away, Georgia could always smell her burnt flesh. The smell of her father's skin burning in the apartment, the smell which would follow them to the hospital. The smell that was attached to her father like it was his damn shadow during the time in which he was dying from his horrific burn injuries sustained in the fire. Just thinking of her father made Georgia want to cry, she missed him so much. She didn't want to be here in Mystic Falls, she wanted to be back home._

_"I want to go home, I want daddy…" Georgia sniffled as she held on to her aunt's hand, afraid to let go of it in case she too disappeared like her father had done. Her aunt was the only family that Georgia had left and she couldn't lose her. Georgia had lost too much already._

_"I know you do Peaches, but we've talked about that and why you can't go home. The fire destroyed the apartment, everything was lost and the injuries that your father sustained in the fire were too much for his body to cope with I know you miss him sweetheart, I miss him too but he's with your mother now."_

_Georgia didn't respond to this, instead she vacantly looked at the Lockwood mansion as her Aunt Carol squeezed her hand in a reassuring manner in an attempt to comfort her. Georgia was well aware of what had happened, that her father was dead, their apartment was destroyed in the fire and she had to go live with her only remaining relative her Aunt Carol and her family because there was nobody else. All four of her grandparents were dead, her mother had been an only child. This was the only place left for Georgia. But what she didn't understand was how comes she survived and her father didn't. Her dad was the strongest person that she knew and yet he was gone, she would never see him again._

* * *

><p>The people of Mystic Falls came in their masses just like Georgia had predicted and sheer scale of it was awfully frightening even for someone like Georgia who had seen things that other people couldn't imagine. She knew that there were creatures lurked in the dark, within the depths of the shadows and how things went bump in the night. Georgia knew that the world was a darker place than what people thought it was. There wasn't much that scared Georgia but having most of the town coming over to her family home to pay their respects to their fallen Mayor or as she saw it, rubbernecking at a family grieving at the loss of the head of their family. Despite what was going on in their person lives, the Lockwood's had to put on a united and strong front as apparently the whole town would be looking to them as Carol said, Georgia hadn't know what that had exactly meant but she went along with it. Her family needed her right now and Georgia was going to do whatever they needed her to do, even if it meant making tedious small talk with people and listening to them as they expressed their condolences. Georgia wasn't in the mood to entertaining people and she could tell that Tyler shared that same sentiment as he seemed rather melancholy, barely able to say more than five words to her. When Georgia had asked how he was doing Tyler had actually flinch and so Georgia had decided not to press the issue as she was well aware that Tyler hadn't had the easiest relationship with his dad. Georgia didn't know how Tyler was managing to keep himself together let alone her Aunt Carol. Georgia could remember she had been told that her father had been passed away. She had woken up in the hospital, things were a bit hazy and at the time Georgia didn't know where she was but then she saw the face of her Aunt Carol, her eyes were red and she looked distraught. Georgia had asked her aunt why she was so sad, it was then in which Carol had explained to Georgia what had happened, the accident and the fact that her dad had passed away two hours ago. Georgia had cried for days on end.<p>

Not Aunt Carol. Even though Georgia knew that her aunt always held herself with such poise and grace, she hadn't been expecting her aunt to be holding herself with complete composure. Georgia had been expecting a tiny bit of emotion, maybe a few tears but there had been nothing. Perhaps it would come later but for now Georgia had to deal with the numerous people coming in to the house bringing with them numerous casserole dishes causing Georgia to grimace as there was nothing worse than grief food. But the scotch in her hand was very much helping her deal with the amount of people in the house. Excusing herself from the twentieth person who had expressed their condolence to her in the last forty minutes Georgia made her way to the front of her house where she saw her Aunt Carol engaging in a conversation with Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes and a guy who Georgia didn't recognize which was odd because she knew everyone in town and that was not an understatement. Because she was a Lockwood she was expected to know the name of everyone in town and on her life Georgia could say she did not know how this man. He didn't look much older than her, he had wild short dark hair, light blue eyes that was a stark contrast to his pale complexion an dark hair and he was wearing a black leather jacket that looked like it had seen a lifetime of adventures. Curious about what the three of them were talking abut Georgia made her way over to them as it looked pretty official and her aunt was in no position to be dealing with this kind of stuff.

"Hey Aunt Carol, how ya doing?" Georgia began and her aunt offered a small smile before wearily looking at the scotch in her niece's hand but she didn't comment on it. Instead she took the drink much to Georgia's surprise but it was a good thing, to Georgia it looked like her aunt had the weight of the world on her shoulders and a few drinks could do her the world of good.

"As well as can be expected thanking you for asking." Carol replied.

"Georgia your back in town–" Sheriff Forbes began and Georgia couldn't help but take offense to that as it sounded that Liz wasn't happy to see her here which wasn't very nice. Georgia and the Sheriff had their run ins with each other over the years, mostly when Georgia was in her teens. It was nothing major, occasionally being busted for underage drinking but it had always been swept under the rug because Georgia was a Lockwood.

"My uncle had died Liz, I know I may not have always been the most fond of Mystic Falls but it's my home and Richard is dead and this is where I belong; with my family." Georgia replied in a prickly manner as she was aware that she wasn't the most liked person in town. People didn't call her Hurricane Georgia for a reason and they didn't cry in joy when she left town to go to college if she was a complete saint. But Georgia didn't care what anyone here thought as she was here for her family and that was all that mattered.

"Georgia I would like to introduce you to Damon Salvatore, he's the nephew of Zach and has kindly taken up his uncle's seat on the council with Zach being out of town and he has been an immense help over the last few months." Carol began moving the conversation along so it didn't consist of Georgia glaring at the Sheriff. "Damon this is my niece Georgia Lockwood, she arrived this morning and I am more than relieved to have her home, I've informed her of what happened, well the few details that I know about yesterday and she has offered her assistance with finding out what happened."

"You have my deepest condolences Georgia." Damon stated as he held out his hand and Georgia held out her hand and shook Damon's hand and after a few moments she pulled her had away and she couldn't help but note that Damon was looking at her scar. It was ugly scar, hideous actually that went from the middle of her right palm to a few centimetres past her wrist. It was the only physical reminder she had of the fire that had taken the life of her father and almost killed her too.

"Thank you." Georgia politely replied.

"We were just discussing how the council are planning to proceed after the events of yesterday–" Liz began.

"Well firstly I think I say this on behalf of my aunt and the rest of our family in saying that before we really do anything, we would like to know who is responsible for killing Richard. Because from what I've been told, it was the vampires who were supposed to be in the basement of the Gilbert building and yet Richard ended up down there and dead from a broken neck from what Brian has told me." Georgia bluntly put as she didn't have time to be beating around the bush, she had spoken with her Aunt and found out that John Gibert and Richard had come up with some plan to round up all the vampires in town and the basis if the plan was relying on the Gilbert device. Georgia had never seen it before but the device was supposed to be lethal to vampires in someway, the journals said that it would send out this frequency which was painful to vampires. The plan was to let the device go off, round up anyone who reacted to it and inject them with vervain before letting them burn to death in the fire. Clearly that plan had failed and then some since Richard was dead and John Gilbert was apparently in the hospital after being stabbed or something. Georgia didn't care much for those details because she didn't care much for John Gilbert.

"I'm looking into it but you have to be straight with me. Is there any reason Richard was affected by the vampire device?" Sheriff Forbes questioned and it felt like a slap in the face as she was all but asking if Richard was a vampire, which he wasn't. Georgia would know if she had been raised by a vampire and sure her Uncle Richard had his many faults but he was no vampire. She was certain of it.

"What are you implying? That he was one of them?" Carol demanded in a quiet tone of voice and Georgia could hear the faint sound of a wobble in her aunt's voice and so she placed a reassuring hand on her aunt's shoulder. Georgia had to admit that this was sort of the worst time to be having this conversation as her uncle had barely been dead for twenty four hours but as much as Georgia wanted answers as to what happened, this was really not the place to be discussing these matters given that half the town were currently here.

"No, no. No one's implying that." Damon said in a calm manner but Georgia was seeing red.

"You have some nerve Liz, coming here and making some baseless accusation like that today of all days. Richard wasn't a vampire and if someone had done their job properly then we wouldn't be here. Your deputy screwed up, plain and simple which makes you responsible." Georgia hissed in response as she was not going to let anyone talk about her family in that way, not in front of her and get away with it. Someone had to have screwed up for Richard to end up in that basement with a broken neck. Someone here was responsible for Richard's death and Georgia was going to find out.

"Georgia's right, someone in your department screwed up and Richard is dead because of it." Carol added.

"Carol..." Damon wearily said.

"Your husband is the one who helped John Gilbert execute his idiot plan in the first place."

"Well at least they were trying to do something because from what I hear Liz, vampires have been having a bit of a run around here for the last few months. Countless people dead including Tanner, Vicki Donovan and Logan Fell. That's two members of the founding families dead in the space of six months. That's suggest to me Liz that you've been doing a piss poor job of keeping this town safe from vampires given the fact that you are the Sheriff of this town and that's kind of your job. It makes me wonder why you are still in office because if I was in charge here then I would have had an emergency recall and had somebody else in your job who would actually try to deal with this vampire situation. Somebody got Richard killed and someone's head is going to roll, I'm going to make sure of it." Georgia threatened as there was a real issue of incompetence here give how long this vampire situation was allowed to spiral out of control. It was like people had their heads up their ass and Georgia was beyond irritated by it. People were dead and if something has been done sooner than maybe they wouldn't be here right now.

"We're all on edge here. You've suffered a great loss. The whole town has. We have to stick together, okay? Trust each other, we'll get through this." Damon said in a reassuring manner and Georgia just sighed to herself before walking away as she couldn't deal with this conversation anymore. She was tired as hell and trying to function on no sleep. Georgia needed to make herself a drink and ignoring most people she headed back to her uncle's office where she knew she kept the good scotch. But even stepping into the office and seeing all of her Uncle Richard's stuff made it hit home for Georgia. She knew he was dead, Georgia knew that but right now it was finally sinking in. Now she had lost both the father figures in her life, it seemed like the world couldn't cut her a break. Georgia knew she couldn't fall apart, she needed to hold herself together and to do that she would need a very strong drink. Georgia made her way over to her uncle's desk where he hid the good scotch and she was about to pour herself a glass when the door opened and in walked Damon Salvatore.

"Hey… Fancy a drink?" Georgia offered but before Damon could even reply she went about pouring two drinks. "Look about what happened, I'm normally not that much of a bitch but this is my family we're talking about. The first time I came home in eighteen months is because my uncle is dead. I can't even remember the last time I spoke to him…"

"You don't have to explain anything to me, you suffered a huge loss." Damon stated as Georgia walked away from the desk and handed him one of the two glasses she had in his hand.

"This all seems to hit a nerve. The fire and Richard dying, for me it seems like history is repeating itself. I don't much like fires and now another man in my life had been burned to a crisp in another fire. Men in my life don't seem to fare well when it comes to fires." Georgia wearily stated as she downed the contents of her glass down in one gulp. It was her first drink since she arrived at the house and it would probably not be her last.

"Liz explained to me why fires are a sensitive subject to you…"

"She did huh? Liz knows nothing about what happened and neither do I, after all these years I still find it hard to comprehend that I survived that fire when it should have killed me. I survived with one this scar on my hand to remind me what happened but funnily enough I can't remember anything about the fire or that day. I can't remember what the last thing I said to me my father, I wonder whether he knew that I loved him. I don't know and I'll never know. Everyone says I've repressed what happened and it's probably a good thing… Moving on from losing someone that way was hard, that entire year I barely left my aunt's side, terrified that I would lose her. My mom died when I was four, then my dad dies in a terrible fire with several other people when I was twelve. That's when I came here to Mystic Falls and was adopted." Georgia quietly said.

"You were adopted?" Damon questioned.

"Yeah. I'm only a Lockwood by name, I was born Georgia Parry and after my dad died I was sent to live with my only remaining family; the Lockwood's. Carol is my paternal aunt and after what I went through Carol and Richard decided to adopt me, something to do with some psychobabble about strengthening my connection to my only remaining family so after I was adopted I became Georgia Lockwood. I don't know why I'm telling you this but I am. Anyway I'm sorry for being so rude, I am actually capable of being a nice person when I want to or so my aunt says…"

"Sounds like something my brother would say about me." Damon added and Georgia couldn't help but laugh for the first time all day. She stood with Damon in the office for a short while longer, idly talking before he dismissed himself saying that there were stud he needed to do, once again offering his condolences before he left. Georgia stayed behind as she wasn't ready to head back out there and deal with the countless people who were in the house to pay their respect. The house was pretty much like a damn circus and Georgia was pretty tired and needed a couple of moments to herself before she headed back out. But her head was still whirling over the fact that Sheriff Forbes had said that Richard had reacted to the device. It didn't make any sense. The device was supposed to effect vampires but Richard wasn't a vampire. Just trying to figure out what had happened was making Georgia's head spin, she knew she needed to sleep but this circus wasn't going to be over another few hours. Georgia knew she needed a strong cup of coffee and some Tylenol to get her through the rest of the day standing. Taking a deep breath and composing herself Georgia made her way towards the doors of the office when the door opened and in walked the last person Georgia wanted to see but despite this she knew he was going to have show up sooner or later.

"There you are Peaches, I've been looking for you…"

"Urghh… What have I told you about calling me Peaches asshole?" Georgia questioned with gritted teeth as she wearily looked over to Mason, he was her Uncle Richard's immature younger brother who was only seven years older than her. Mason was something like her step uncle or something along those lines, Georgia wasn't really too sure. But the two of them weren't exactly the best of chums most of the time. It had been seven years since Mason had been back to Mystic Falls but it has been about eight months since Georgia had seen him. He was down in Florida living the dream of surfing everyday. Georgia had gone to Florida a couple of times for spring break when she was in college and then when she came back from travelling abroad, she had stopped off in Florida for a week or two to catch up briefly with Mason before continuing to travel across the US.

"Georgie… Is that anyway to be talking to your uncle? I thought Carol raised you to be respectful to your elders and all that other nonsense." Mason questioned and Georgia just rolled her eyes.

"You are not my uncle." Georgia stated feeling the needed to correct Mason on the facts here.

"Well my brother adopted you which technically makes him your adoptive father and he was my brother so I think that kind of makes me your uncle whether you like it or not Peaches." Mason said and Georgia grimaced as whilst Mason had a point with that, she had never called him Uncle and she certainly wasn't going to start addressing him by that anytime soon.

"I'm sorry about Richard." Georgia said as Mason did after lose his brother, even if they weren't close that much. Richard and Mason were complete differences in practically everything, whilst Richard had stayed here, Mason went of and did his own thing and burned his trustfund along the way which made him the family black sheep. Mason was everything that Georgia knew was her aunt's worst fear for her but in reality Mason wasn't that bad, he was easier to deal with when he had a couple of beers in him.

"Yeah me too…" Mason wearily replied. "So when did you get in?"

"This morning, I was drunk and dancing in some drive bar down in Kentucky when Aunt Carol called to tell me what had happened. Pretty much drove straight here after I got off the phone with her, it took about nine hours in total. Barely had time to have a shower and have a tiny bit of breakfast before people started pouring in to pay their respects and it's been like this all day. Then I got into this thing with Liz Forbes about what happened to Richard so I slinked off in here for a drink and some clam before I have to go back out there." Georgia stated as she stretched out as her arms were feeling pretty dead.

"What do you mean you got into something with Liz Forbes?" Mason asked and Georgia sighed, the only upside of her telling Mason this was that she wouldn't get a lecture off him about being rude as he would have done the exact same thing. Him and Georgia was pretty much two sides of the same coin in some aspects, not that Georgia would ever admit it.

"Look I know you don't much believe in the stories but over the last several months there has been an issue with vampires here. People have died, Logan Fell was turned into a vampire at one point before he was killed. The situation was getting out of hand from what I hear and so John Gilbert and Richard came up with some plan to get rid of the vampires. There was some device that belonged to the Gilberts which when used would emit this high frequency sound that would incapacitate vampires. The plan was to use this device and round up the vampires, inject them with vervian and then shove them into the old Gilbert building and torch it. The plan went down last night and according to Liz, Richard must have been affected by the device for him to have ended up in the basement of the Gilbert Building which is where he was killed. I said that was crazy and I kind of got really mad about it because Liz was suggesting that Richard was a vampire when he wasn't…" Georgia explained as she knew Mason probably wouldn't believe her as he wasn't much of a believer in this vampire stuff from what her Aunt Carol had told her.

"Huh…" Mason quietly said and Georgia was slightly taken about how calm he was acting about all of this. It was slightly unnerving to say the least.

"I tell you that the Sheriff make think that your brother is a vampire because of some device that was made by Jonathan Gilbert back in the old days and all you have to say is, huh? Do you not find that outlandish suggestion as ridiculous as I do? Richard was many things but he was not a vampire for pete's sake! Richard detested vampires and he ended up being killed trying to protect this town!" Georgia stated, feeling herself getting even more worked up about the subject the more she talked about it whilst Mason was as cool as a cucumber, which was weird as usually he used to get all annoyed and worked up when the vampire subject came up. Georgia was expecting for him to be as mad as her, if not more given that this vampire situation had gotten his brother killed.

"Richard was affected by this device… A device that supposedly only works on vampires…" Mason said more to himself that Georgia.

"Apparently." Georgia scoffed in a sarcastic manner, half expecting for Mason to start laughing about how stupid the whole thing was. But he didn't. Instead there was just this look in Mason's eyes, sort of like things were falling into place for him and he had just realized something that was very important. "What is it?"

"It's nothing Georgia, don't worry about it." Mason said in a dismissing manner and Georgia would have dropped it if it wasn't for the fact that Mason had just called her Georgia. He had never called her Georgia in the time that she had known him, it was always Georgie, Gee or Peaches and occasionally George which was sort of a family joke about a George Lockwood who was one of the family ancestors. Mason flat out refused to call Georgia by her name, he liked to use nicknames claiming that it was his right as her 'uncle' to make fun of her. So Mason calling her Georgia threw up red flags for Georgia. He wouldn't have called her by her actual first name if something wasn't wrong.

"Your lying Mason, tell me the truth." Georgia demanded as if Mason knew something that could help them understand why Richard had been placed in the Gilbert building basement then she wanted to know.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you Peaches." Mason said and Georgia ignored his use of Peaches, as much as she claimed to hate him or the rest of the family calling her that, she was always going to answer to it. Only her family called her Peaches and Mason was indeed her family even if Georgia wouldn't call him uncle like he often wanted her to.

"Try me."

"This is going to sound crazy but I think I may know why Richard was affected by this device, it's not because he's vampire but something else. Our family have this gene, you won't have it because you're not a Lockwood by blood and you will be thanking your stars for this… The Lockwood family have this gene and it's not any normal gene, it's lycanthropy and this gene–" Mason began and as soon as she heard the words lycanthropy Georgia's heart sank as she knew what it meant. This was not the first time she had heard that word but she had never expected to hear those words in conjecture with her own family.

"–You don't need to explain it to me Mason, I know all about lycanthropy or rather the werewolf gene and how it needs to be triggered for the person to become an actual werewolf… Are you telling me that you're a werewolf?" Georgia quietly uttered and Mason slowly nodded his head and Georgia could not believe what she was hearing. Mason was a werewolf, he didn't correct her to say that he had the gene. He had just confirmed that he was indeed a werewolf. This was bad, this was so bad on so many levels…

"Georgia how did you know what? Did Richard tell you…" Mason asked and Georgia just shook her head before starting to pace around the office. She was in a town that had a vampire problem and she had now discovered that her family carried the werewolf gene and that Mason was an actually werewolf. This was not good.

"Oh god, oh god, this cannot be happening at all…" Georgia stated out loud as she was hoping that this was a very bad dream but deep down she knew it wasn't as she wouldn't never dream something this bad even in her wildest nightmares.

"Look Georgia I know this sounds bad but it really isn't–" Mason began in an attempt to calm Georgia down but it wasn't going to work. There was a reason why she was freaking out over this news and it wasn't simply because she was related to werewolves, it was the implications of that which were freaking her out given who she was.

"Not bad? You have no idea Mason!" Georgia hissed and she knew she was going to have to show Mason the mark on her shoulder. The reversed three with the X through it that meant protector and it linked to her destiny; in which she was destined to keep humans safe from the supernatural creatures that roamed the earth. Georgia had learnt the truth about herself when she was eighteen years old and a freshman in college, not long after she had learned the truth about vampires in Mystic Falls. She had never told anyone about her being a slayer until now. Taking a deep breath Georgia unbuttoned her shirt, leaving her in just a tank top and she looked Mason in the eye briefly before slowly turning around so he could see the birthmark that sat on her left shoulder. The mark of the slayers. From where she stood with her back to him Georgia could hear Mason quietly gasp and she turned back around. "Now you see what the problem is…"

"You're a slayer." Mason quietly uttered and Georgia slowly nodded her head to confirm it. Forget the coffee, now she really need a strong drink or seven.

"And I was born to kill you…"


End file.
